A recent survey in the UK reported that less than a third of small businesses have plans to ensure business continuity in the event of data loss.

Just 30% of the small businesses surveyed have procedures in place to help them cope with data loss. This compares with 54% of medium-sized companies and 73% of large firms.

The most common causes of data loss are:

• hardware failure (21%)
• software failure (19%)
• human error (18%)
• data corruption (15%)

The report also found:

• 41% of small businesses do not have a plan in place and do not expect to introduce one in the next 12 months.
• 43% of firms are now using online backup - instead of disks or tapes - to store their data.
• lack of time (35%), cost (18%) and a lack of skilled staff (18%) are the most commonly-cited reasons for not testing a disaster recovery plan.
• only 30% of respondents from small organisations, and around half of medium sized, even have a business continuity plan at all.